Neuroplasticity Research

KEY FINDING: Adult neurogenesis occurs not only in the hippocampus and SVZ but also in other brain regions like the cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, and striatum, which are associated with the limbic system and basal ganglia.

KEY FINDING: Passive exercise (bike) and serotonergic pharmacotherapy (quipazine) are ‘competing’ therapies, as quipazine limits the cortical reorganization induced by bike.

KEY FINDING: α and β ERD evolution after SCI is negatively correlated with the clinical progression of the patients during the first months after the injury.

KEY FINDING: CST collateral formation begins within the first 10 days after spinal cord injury, and these collaterals can persist for at least 24 weeks.

KEY FINDING: Most SCI research focuses on corticospinal, rubrospinal, and raphespinal pathways, neglecting many other important supraspinal populations.

KEY FINDING: The combined therapy significantly enhanced the neuroanatomical plasticity of major descending spinal tracts such as corticospinal and serotonergic-spinal pathways.

KEY FINDING: Viral-mediated Rac1 knockdown in motor neurons after SCI significantly restored rate-dependent depression (RDD) of the H-reflex, indicating reduced hyperreflexia.

KEY FINDING: ChABC injection rostral to a hemisection injury promoted significant sprouting of 5HT+ fibers into the dorsal and ventral horns of the spinal cord.

KEY FINDING: The spinal transcriptome after cortical stroke is characterized by two phases: an early inflammatory phase and a late tissue repair phase with upregulated genes related to neurite outgrowth.

KEY FINDING: BWSTT accelerates locomotor recovery in contused rats, improves H-reflex properties, reduces muscle atrophy, and decreases sprouting of small caliber afferent fibers. BWSTT-contused animals showed accelerated locomotor recovery, improved H-reflex properties, reduced muscle atrophy, and decreased sprouting of small caliber afferent fibers.